Thursday, September 03, 2015

Revisiting RENT

Last week, my husband and I headed to Rehoboth Beach for a much-needed getaway. We kept joking with some friends that maybe the little theatre down there would be doing RENT, and wouldn't it be fun to catch a production like that at the beach? Well, don't you know, they were doing a production of RENT, and it was opening night, so we figured, What the hell! Let's go!

We had a blast, and I was hit with a floodlight of memories:

When I first moved to NY, I waited tables at Pizzeria UNO's with Jesse L. Martin. He was juggling soap opera work at the time, and he was FABULOUS, always singing and dancing around the restaurant. I got a gig with a Shakespeare troupe in PA, so I left the glamour of "slinging hash," or in this case, pizza, and Jesse stayed there, auditioning his butt off. Fast forward one year later, where I'm cruising through Rolling Stone magazine, and I see a pic of Jesse in the new musical, RENT. It was SO COOL to see him in the mag, and then to hear him on the original cast album, singing such awesome music. It was amazing and inspiring to see him making dreams come true!

A year later, I was back in the city, and was called back for the role of Maureen. I didn't get it, but I ended up booking other gigs Off and Way Off Broadway, doing short films and voice overs, and I've enjoyed every step of the way! Every artist, everyone, goes on their own journey, and where I'm at with my career, it feels like I'm like going up a ladder. I'm constantly movin on up, and it's very exciting!

I can look back on my journey with love and joy, and I look forward to the next adventure. I have some very cool stuff cookin for the Fall, which I can't disclose yet, but I will, and it'll be a blast.